Our View: High cost of child care is squeezing Mass. families

For parents, there is nothing as precious as their children. So deciding who will care for the kids when mom or dad are at work is an important — and increasingly expensive — decision.

Editorial Board

For parents, there is nothing as precious as their children. So deciding who will care for the kids when mom or dad are at work is an important — and increasingly expensive — decision.

As a result of the mounting costs of child care these days, the issue has gone well beyond just a personal decision for parents — to an issue with significant public policy implications.

There are several factors contributing to the increased costs and demand for child care. These factors all need to be considered as policy makers decide how best to address Massachusetts’ child care crunch today.

With both parents working in most two-parent families, coupled with a larger prevalence of single-parent families, more parents have come to rely on child care options.

Further adding to the demand for professional child care is that people tend to move around more these days, and we don’t have the close associations with neighbors and other community members that we once did. So while grandparents, other relatives or trusted neighbors may have taken care of Junior in “the olden days,” that’s just not always an option these days.

Increasingly — particularly in traditionally more expensive urban areas — child care is becoming unaffordable, often eclipsing the cost of housing and even, in some cases, college tuition. Child care in Massachusetts is the most expensive in the nation, coming in at a whopping average yearly cost of $16,430, according to Child Care Aware of America’s 2013 report.

To help lessen some of the burden on families, the commonwealth does offer some financial assistance, including child care subsidies. But there are far more parents seeking subsidies than are available, with 53,000 income-eligible Bay State families receiving subsidies and more than 40,000 on the wait list.

A greater emphasis from a “babysitting” model for child care to more of an early childhood education focus is certainly beneficial to a child’s educational and social development, but it also comes at a cost, including expensive licensure and regulatory fees that get necessarily passed along to parents.

“There’s a sense that quality can only be achieved in certain settings,” said Tom Weber, commissioner of the state Department of Early Education and Care. “The fact is high-quality is achievable across all those domains.”

As the state grapples with the availability and affordability of child care options, it will be important for lawmakers to balance society’s natural desire to offer the best we possibly can for our children with the necessity of expanding the availability of options that are safe, adequate and affordable for families of different means.

While Weber does not believe fees and regulations directly drive the cost of child care, they could be one factor contributing to the high costs. Further study of the factors driving the costs of child care in Massachusetts could help state officials determine the best ways to address the issue.